Former refining lobbyist joins Institute for Energy Research

Published 7:17 am, Tuesday, June 2, 2015

WASHINGTON — A longtime oil industry lobbyist who led the nation’s top refining trade group is joining the Institute for Energy Research.

Charles Drevna is set to become a distinguished senior fellow at the group, roughly a month after he ended an eight-year stint as president of the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers.

Although Drevna will continue focusing on energy policy in his new role, an IER spokesman said he would not be lobbying as part of the group. Drevna is set to advise IER on energy topics, with a special focus on fuel and refining issues.

IER president Thomas Pyle said Drevna “has spent his career on the front lines in the fight for energy prosperity.”

“He’s a strong voice for free markets whose decades of experience will prove an invaluable addition to the IER team as we spread the message that markets — not mandates — offer the best opportunities for growth and prosperity,” Pyle added.

Drevna said he was excited to join IER “to advance free-market energy policies.”

“America is in the midst of an energy renaissance, but government policies threaten to prevent us from reaching our full energy potential,” Drevna said, citing the renewable fuel standard that forces refiners to blend biofuels into gasoline.

“The renewable fuel standard is just one example of a broken government policy that is holding the country back,” Drevna said. “We need the American people to stand up to Washington bureaucrats and demand solutions that embrace affordable, reliable and abundant energy.”

Drevna has spent more than four decades working on legislative, regulatory and public policy issues involving energy and the environment.

He is known in Washington, D.C. as a tough-talking trade association president who delivers colorful critiques of energy policies and doesn’t mince words in blasting the Obama administration’s approach to biofuels.

He sometimes takes those views to Capitol Hill where he is a relatively frequent witness, most recently testifying on crude exports before House and Senate panels in March.